HOME	AUGUST 07th, 2004

AUGUST 07

With the carnival season in full swing, a major controversy over the rights to video tape calypsonians is threatening to put a damper on Sunday night's dimanche gras show at the national stadium at Queen's Park.

The Grenada Professional Association of Calypsonians and Tents (G-PACT) which controls the major artistes on the island has just stop short of announcing a possible pull-out of its members from the show if the matter is not resolved within the next few days.

Those calypsonians associated with (G-PACT) say they intend to seek financial compensation up-front if their performances are reproduced by the Grenada Carnival Committee (GCC) and sold to the public.

The carnival body has announced that the audio and video presentations of this year's celebrations have been contracted out to SecCom Networks.

The new and relatively unknown outfit is charged with the responsibility of video taping the shows and then reproducing them on DVDs for sale through the Offices of the GCC.

Investigations made by this newspaper reveal that SecCom was the group contracted by the ruling New National Party (NNP) government of Prime Minister Dr. Keith Mitchell to provide certain services for the November 27, 2003 general election campaign.

One of the employees is said to be on the payroll of National Public Relations (NPR), which operates out of the head office of the NNP at Mt. Helicon in St. George's.

Manager of GCC office, Dexter Mitchell told reporters at a press conference last week that snippets of the various shows will be given to the television stations since they will not be able to record the different carnival events.

President of G-PACT Elwin Mc. Quilkin known in the entertainment world as "Black Wizard" told GRENADA TODAY Tuesday that any reproduction of the artistes work will result in a cost for the carnival body.
He said that the GCC will have to pay them a percentage of money up front if they plan on reproducing their work and offering them for sale to the public.

Executive Member of G-PACT Glen Noel who has been dealing with the issue for the calypsonians told GRENADA TODAY Wednesday that their position on the issue has already been communicated to officials of the carnival body.

Noel said that the Copyrights Act indicates quite clearly that the GCC does not have ownership of property of artistes.
He stated that G-PACT is waiting on a response from GCC to clear the way for a solution to the problem before the Dimanche Gras show.

When contacted, GCC Chairperson Jennifer Woodroofe told GRENADA TODAY that some of the artistes have already communicated their position with them about the video taping of their performances.

She said that one of the persons is soca artiste Elimus Gilbert known in the entertainment world as "Inspector". Inspector is not a member of G-PACT but the rival Grenada Progressive Calypsonians Association (GPCA), headed by Lincoln "Bubbler" John, a political activist of the ruling party.

According to Woodroofe, Inspector has informed the committee that he would not like his presentation to be video taped by the outfit contracted by the carnival body.

This, she said is quite understandable and that they intend to respect his wishes by shutting down the equipment during Inspector's presentation.

Nine calypsonians will be challenging the reigning monarch for his crown on Sunday night. They are Ajamu, Scholar, Mr. X, Powder, Biko, Randy Isaac, Smokey, Val Adams and Papa Jerry.